From Hopewell Road to Brandon Boulevard

By Ralph

Anyone who has spent time sitting in traffic on Brandon Boulevard may find this difficult to imagine:

A century ago, the road was only about nine feet wide.

Before shopping centers, restaurants, six-lane traffic and seemingly endless stoplights, the roadway Brandon residents know today as State Road 60 was known locally as Hopewell Road.

And its transformation tells a large part of the story of Brandon itself.

Brandon's Nine-Foot Highway

In 1925, Hopewell Road became a paved road measuring only about nine feet across.

Brandon itself was still a tiny rural community. The first local population count, taken just three years earlier, recorded only about 100 residents.

Most roads in the area were still dirt or shell, and traveling any significant distance by automobile could be difficult.

But paving Hopewell Road helped begin a change.

Businesses started appearing along the roadway. In 1927, Clarence Hampton opened what is remembered as Brandon's first gas and service station.

It was an early sign that the road would eventually become much more than a way to travel through town.

The Road That Helped Brandon Grow

The major turning point came after World War II.

In 1956, Hopewell Road was connected with Adamo Drive, providing Brandon residents with easier access to Tampa.

Suddenly, living in Brandon while working in Tampa became much more practical.

New residents followed.

So did subdivisions, schools and businesses.

By the early 1960s, Brandon's population had grown to around 8,000. Hopewell Road was widened to four lanes and designated State Road 60 as the community continued expanding.

The little country road was becoming Brandon's

commercial backbone.

THEN

Picture Brandon in 1925.

A narrow paved road cuts through a small agricultural community surrounded by open land. There are few businesses, few automobiles and only about 100 residents living in the area.

A nine-foot roadway was progress.

NOW

Drive Brandon Boulevard today and that earlier Brandon can be difficult to picture.

Restaurants, stores, offices, shopping centers and neighborhoods stretch along the corridor. Thousands of vehicles use State Road 60 as one of eastern Hillsborough County's primary east-west routes.

Even today, the Florida Department of Transportation identifies portions of SR 60 by both familiar names: Brandon Boulevard and Hopewell Road.

The road grew because Brandon grew.

But Brandon also grew because of the road.

Did You Know?

The connection between Hopewell Road and Adamo Drive in 1956 helped transform Brandon into what was increasingly considered a Tampa bedroom community—somewhere families could live outside the city while commuting into Tampa for work.

That transportation connection helped set the stage for the enormous residential and commercial growth that followed.

Brandon Then & Now

The next time you're stopped at a red light on Brandon Boulevard, look at all the lanes of traffic around you and imagine something very different.

One narrow strip of pavement.

Nine feet wide.

Running through a community of roughly 100 people.

Today's Brandon Boulevard may sometimes test our patience.

But hidden beneath all that traffic is one of the roads that helped build Brandon.